Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Colvin, Michael E.

Committee Member

Rush, Scott A.

Committee Member

Reagan, Steven R.

Date of Degree

5-6-2017

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Forest Resources

Department

Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Abstract

Bats are important components of biodiversity within forested ecosystems. This research addressed habitat characteristics that influence species occupancy and stable isotopes and wing morphology to assess community structure within the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge. To meet these objectives, I deployed echolocation recorders, mist-nets and conducted roost checks to capture bat acoustics; fur samples were also collected to measure ratios of carbon (C13/12) and nitrogen (N15/14). Relationships between occupancy, habitat class and features were not apparent for most species. However, Lasiurus and Mytois spp. showed positive relationships with proximity to roads, Lasiurus, positive with stem density and Perimyotis subflavus, negative with basal area. Stable isotope analysis revealed some distinction of trophic niches while wing morphometrics indicated bats of similar wing shape and size show greater trophic overlap. Collectively, these results suggest that habitat management, as current within the study area, will have limited influence on local bat distributions.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17632

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